Religion can't be basis of citizenship: Cong MP Tewari slams govt's 'CAA before LS polls' push

New Delhi: In a country that has secularism enshrined in the Preamble of its Constitution, religion cannot be the basis of citizenship, Congress MP Manish Tewari said on Wednesday. His statement came after a government functionary stated that the rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 will be notified 'much before' the announcement of Lok Sabha elections.

Under the CAA brought in by the Narendra Modi government, Indian nationality will be granted to persecuted non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had come to India before and on December 31, 2014.

There were massive protests in some parts of the country after the CAA was passed by Parliament in December 2019 and received the presidential assent subsequently.

A senior government functionary on Tuesday said Rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 will be notified 'much before' the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.

Tagging a media report on the remarks by the government functionary, Tewari said, "In a country that has Secularism enshrined in the Preamble of its Constitution can religion be the basis of Citizenship whether extra-territorial or even territorial? The answer is no."

"This was the nub of my argument when I led the opposition to the CAA Bill in the Lok Sabha in December 2019. It is the Core question in the Challenge before the Supreme Court," added the MP from Punjab.

"Hypothetically-Tomorrow a government could argue that religion will be the basis of Citizenship even territorially not place of birth or the other criterion for citizenship in the Constitution of India or the Citizenship Act," he said.

In the name of reasonable classification to surmount religious persecution in our neighbourhood, Tewari said, he hopes the ground is not being prepared for some other 'insidious template'.